May 28, 2009

Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from my dad. He pleaded for me to take him home. I told him I could not take him home and leave him by himself. He sounded so desperate. I called his social worker, Sara and told her of his current frustration. She said she would go for a walk with him and try to ease his stress.

I went to visit him around 6 pm. He was in a very good mood and even danced around a bit. He told me right away that he had spoken with Karen, the administrator. He said he told her he wants to go home and she told him that he also needed to talk with his family. He seemed satisfied that he had made progress in his quest to go home. He also said that he had played cards earlier in the day with Sara. He used to love playing cards.

He and I went upstairs and dropped in on Jack Lewis. Jack is an elderly gentleman, artist. He also happens to play the harmonica. Though I have brought harmonicas to play with Jack in the past this time I brought my guitar. All three of us sat and sang and played old hymns. I also added a few songs that were out of Jack's harmonica key of G. They were some old blues songs that he and my father really enjoyed. My father cannot remember all the words to the hymns he has been singing for most of his life but can follow along very well and stay in key.

Jack Lewis

After our little jamboree my father and I went into the closed upstairs dining room and helped ourselves to a cup of tea. We sat and he talked about buying some land from a neighbor. He didn't know what he would do with it but if he could "get something out of it" he would do it. He was so much more content than earlier in the day. I left around 9 pm. As always he thanked me several times for coming over and I thanked him in return for having me.